- Hollywood directors reach tentative four-year deal with studios and streamers
Source: Seattle Times
“Hollywood directors on Tuesday reached a four-year tentative contract agreement with studios and streaming services. The deal struck between the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers came four weeks after talks began. The talks were the first under new DGA President Christopher Nolan, who took the job in September. Along with similar four-year deals — longer than the industry three — ratified in recent weeks by unions representing writers and actors, the DGA agreement adds to the likelihood of long-term labor peace despite many other industry upheavals. The collective bargaining agreement must still be approved by the guild’s national board, and no details on the terms will be released until then, the DGA said in a statement. It then must be ratified by the guild membership.” (06/10/26)
- India: Regime summons US envoy over attack on ship carrying Indian sailors off Oman
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatari state media]
“India has summoned a senior US diplomat after US forces fired on a Palau-flagged vessel with 24 Indian sailors on board off the coast of Oman, leaving three Indian seafarers missing. India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to Al Jazeera on Wednesday that it had summoned Jason Meeks, the US Embassy’s deputy chief of mission in New Delhi. The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said it carried out a ‘precision’ strike on a vessel, the Settebello, as it transited the Gulf of Oman transporting Iranian oil on Tuesday evening, claiming the crew failed to comply with instructions from US forces.” (06/10/26)
- Study: US firms pay price for Trump’s China tariffs, export controls
Source: South China Morning Post [Hong Kong]
“The Trump administration’s export controls, sanctions and tariffs are hurting American firms in China without achieving their policy goals of blocking critical technology or reviving US manufacturing, according to a new business survey. … The report said that nearly half of the 175 respondents to the survey were affected by US export controls and sanctions, with around 61 per cent of those firms losing sales to Chinese competitors – a rise of five percentage points from 2025. Over 72 per cent of the surveyed companies were also hit by the tit-for-tat tariffs unleashed by both countries, with close to 40 per cent of the affected businesses losing sales as a result of the US duties. The report said that these losses had not forced American companies to onshore manufacturing – only 14 per cent of respondents expanded production at home while 36 per cent increased production in third countries.” (06/10/26)
- Blind Submission To Authority Caused By Bad Parenting
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone“Blind submission to authority is the result of propaganda and indoctrination, but it’s also the result of bad parenting. Raising kids who aren’t allowed to say no to you is raising adults who don’t think anyone should be allowed to oppose their rulers. That’s mainly what you’re seeing in the comments section of any viral police brutality video with people defending the cop’s actions and saying the victim should have complied with commands more perfectly. All they’re really saying is ‘Don’t disobey Daddy and you won’t get smacked!’ … Discuss the latest act of war or abuse with someone who’s been trained to reflexively obey authority and you can watch them running calculations trying to find excuses to justify why the powerful are correct in this given instance, even if you’re presenting them with brand new information.” (06/09/26)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/06/09/blind-submission-to-authority-is-caused-by-bad-parenting/
- How the Libertarian Party De-MAGAfied Itself
Source: The Bulwark
by Bernard Tamas“The Libertarian Party expelled its New Hampshire chapter from the national party. For years, the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH) has prided itself on being the radical vanguard of the liberty movement and made itself a public relations nightmare for the wider libertarian movement. Its chair, Jeremy Kauffman, became notorious for tweets he posted from the New Hampshire chapter’s account, including implying that historically black colleges and universities were ‘chimp factories’ and declaring that ‘Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero.’ Faithless to the wider party, the LPNH endorsed and campaigned for Donald Trump over the Libertarian Party’s own presidential nominee, Chase Oliver, in 2024. When the vote by the Libertarian National Committee to eject the LPNH finally came during the party’s national conference, it was swift and decisive.” (06/10/26)
https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-the-libertarian-party-de-magafied
- The fear of liberty is irrational
Source: Eastern New Mexico News
by Kent McManigal“I’ve never considered myself a particularly brave person, but I’ve never been afraid enough to feel like I needed to be governed or to have you governed on my behalf. I’ve never been so afraid that I was willing to give up essential liberty for a false feeling of safety. I can’t comprehend this level of irrational fear.” (06/10/26)
- Second Thoughts on Marijuana Legalization
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger“[A]fter saying 12 years ago that marijuana policy should decided by the states, the Times now wants the federal government to be involved: ‘The federal government needs to be part of these solutions. Leaving taxes and regulations to the states threatens to create a race to the bottom in which people can cross state lines to buy their pot. Congress can set a floor, as it has done, however inadequately, with alcohol and tobacco, and states can build on it as they choose.’ The goal should be ‘to balance personal freedom and public health.’ Libertarians have likewise had some second thoughts about marijuana legalization, but not for the same reasons as the New York Times, Republican and conservative drug warriors, or state marijuana prohibitionists. The issue with libertarians is that marijuana legalization is not marijuana freedom.” (06/10/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/second-thoughts-on-marijuana-legalization/
- Social Security’s Finances Are Getting Worse, and Americans Don’t Know How Hard the Choices Will Be
Source: Cato Institute
by Emily Ekins & Jonah Messinger“The newly released Social Security Trustees’ annual report shows that the Social Security Trust Fund’s finances have deteriorated further. The trust fund is now projected to be depleted sooner than previously expected, meaning Congress will face an even larger financing gap. Closing that gap will require larger tax increases, deeper benefit cuts, or some combination of both. Recent polling on Social Security from the Cato Institute in collaboration with YouGov offers some clues about how Americans are likely to respond to this news. Americans are aware that Social Security is underfunded, but many do not understand the severity of the problem.” (06/10/26)
- Europe shakes off innovation gloom
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“The handful of U.S. firms that dominate global tech and artificial intelligence has almost universal name recognition. And it’s quite widely known that they rely on semiconductors manufactured in East Asia, mainly Taiwan. But it’s safe to say that very, very few people realize that the world’s only maker of the complex lithography machines – used by Asian firms to fabricate the chips that power American tech advances – is headquartered in … Europe. (The Netherlands, to be precise.) Not knowing this little factoid is about more than industry trivia. It points to long-standing, and not entirely merited, views of the continent as an economic has-been, held back by red tape, capital constraints, and innovation inertia. In fact, the European Union is making quiet, consistent progress in undoing both limiting perceptions and policies – even as global markets are more focused on multitrillion-dollar Wall Street listings …” (06/09/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/the-monitors-view/2026/0609/Europe-shakes-off-innovation-gloom
- City of Angels
Source: Brownstone Institute
by Sofia Karstens“By now, everyone knows the basics of the California fires that burned down the Palisades and Altadena. And most people are aware of the shady ‘Make it make sense’ particulars around our elected officials and the quasi- and government agencies like the LA DWP. Some people understand the corruption, fraud, and coordination of criminal activity that has led us here. Far fewer understand how deeply that dysfunction persists, and the degree to which it has been amplified.” (06/10/26)
- Japan Looks East
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Scott“In mid-June, on the margins of the G7 France summit, Japanese premier Sanae Takaichi will tell Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the president of Brazil, that Japan wishes to begin negotiating an economic partnership agreement with the Southern Common Market — or, Mercosur, the South American customs union comprised of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The overture to the South American trade bloc, confirmed in the last week of May by Japanese officials familiar with the plan, would be the first large-scale trade negotiation launched under Takaichi’s administration. The potential for Japan is enormous — not just for international trade, but also for buttressing its free-market economic mission at home.” (06/10/26)
- Trump is losing it and must be removed
Source: The Hill
by Kiim Wehle“On April 30, 2026, Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed (D-R.I.) entered a statement into the Congressional Record by 36 physicians — including neurologists, psychiatrists, and specialists in cognitive disorders from Harvard, Tufts, Columbia, and George Washington University. These doctors warned of President Trump’s ‘rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous decline.’ They called him ‘mentally unfit’ and said he must be removed ‘with the greatest urgency,’ citing his ‘grandiose and delusional beliefs,’ ‘reckless threats of violence,’ ‘seemingly compulsive, manic-like late-night communications,’ and ‘fixation on perceived enemies.’ Citing his access to nuclear codes, they called for use of the 25th Amendment. But the chances now seem more remote than ever. Unlike during Trump’s first term, when the possibility of invoking the Constitution’s 25th Amendment was at least openly debated, no one in Trump’s close orbit will now speak truth to power.” (06/10/26)
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/5914003-trump-decline-25th-amendment/
- Civic Education for Liberal Freedom
Source: Liberalism.org
by Paul Carrese“To address our civic disintegration, we must reprioritize a civics of reflective patriotism: grateful for America, while perpetually questioning and arguing.” (06/10/26)
https://www.liberalism.org/p/civic-education-for-liberal-freedom
- Early 21st Century Universities
Source: ProSocial Libertarians
by Andrew Jason Cohen“I’ve been thinking a lot about the definition and telos of the university so thought I’d think a bit about what universities are like now. Perhaps this will help those who are not in universities to understand what they are. Perhaps others will offer me different views regarding how they are now (and how they should be). I will call universities as they are ETCUs — Early 21st Century Universities. In part, that’s unfair. Universities didn’t suddenly become something new in 2000 or 2001. I’d say universities were already on a downward path in the 1980s; I suspect it goes back further.” (06/10/26)
https://prosociallibertarians.substack.com/p/early-21st-century-universities
- Trump advisers letting Tehran play him for a sucker
Source: New York Post
by staff“‘The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack,’ President Trump announced Tuesday of Iran’s shootdown of a US Apache attack chopper over the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command soon launched ‘proportional strikes,’ which don’t sound like enough: The prez needs to show he’s serious, or Tehran will keep trying to play him for a sucker as it has every president going back to Jimmy Carter. Consider: Trump told the press just hours before that attack, ‘We’re very close to having a very, very good, strong, powerful deal.’ A country that’s ‘very close’ to sealing a deal in good faith doesn’t escalate against its negotiating partner. This leaves us wondering which presidential advisers are leading him down this garden path to likely humiliation.” [editor’s note: The only way for Trump to show he’s “serious” is to accept the fact that he lost a war – TLK] (06/09/26)
https://nypost.com/2026/06/09/opinion/trumps-advisers-are-letting-tehran-play-him-for-a-sucker/
- Why Democrats rejected ‘class traitor’ Steyer in California
Source: Semafor
by David Weigel“Why couldn’t Steyer pull this off? What did his 12 years as a ‘donor-doer’ leave behind for his party? Quite a lot, mostly related to the ballot measures he funded before getting more tied to national politics. But as he grew more ambitious, Steyer embodied the Democratic Party’s problems.” (06/10/26)
https://www.semafor.com/article/06/10/2026/why-democrats-rejected-class-traitor-steyer-in-california
- The Oppenheimer of AI
Source: Law & Liberty
by Walter Donway“Great scientists probably cannot be relied upon to control the perils of new technologies by exercising personal restraint.” (06/10/26)
- So to Speak: The Free Speech Podcast, episode 74
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
“Financial censorship: How banks silence speech w/ Rainey Reitman.” (06/10/26)
- Ron Paul Liberty Report, 06/10/26
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
“Not Again! Senate Moves To FORCE Intel Sharing With Israel!” (06/10/26)
- Judging Freedom, 06/10/26
Source: Judging Freedom
“Aaron Maté : While Trump Is Stalling for Time …” (06/10/26)
- Reasonably Optimistic, 06/10/26
Source: Washington Post
“Do aliens exist? I asked an astrophysicist.” (06/10/26)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/impromptu/do-aliens-exist-i-asked-an-astrophysicist/